


From London With Love

by snowflake123



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: AU- America, Anderson Is An Idiot, Dating Anniversary, Early Morning Phone Calls, Exaggeration on School, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff, Funeral Service, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, OOC Sherlock, Original Character(s), POV First Person, Past Relationship(s), Payback, School, School Dances, Skating Lessons, Teenlock, christmas gifts, gender swap, slight bullying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2018-01-15 02:06:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1287196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowflake123/pseuds/snowflake123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joan Watson is your typical teenager who doesn't like high school. From her point of view she tells everything about her school life, and her life at home. Also she starts falling for Sherlock Holmes, who just so happens to share the same feeling. He just has an unusual way of showing it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title idea was not mine, more help from horsefeathers with that. Thanks for the help :) also in case you didn't know this. I'm from the U.S. so our grading system for high school is different. It goes freshmen, then sophomore, junior and then senior.

Remember when our parents said school can be fun or a real learning experience because it never stops? Yeah, well we were tricked into believing that. In reality, school is terrible. And it's ten times worse when you’re picked on because of what you don’t have or that you’re new and you don’t know your way around. That’s especially not fair, nor is it right. Hi, my name is Joan Watson, and I’m going to tell you something about the years through my high school experience.

So it starts on the first day of school, people are catching up with friends, and I don’t have that many here. I felt like I stuck out the most, because I wasn’t talking to anyone, I was kind of like a teacher’s pet in elementary school, and I didn’t know anybody. Halls were crowded with people almost all over the place. Girls were whining about how they were rushed to do their hair and make up.

As I absently listened, I just rolled my eyes wondering why people refuse to grow up or not care how they looked. That’s kind of how I went, I didn’t have name brand stuff. I didn’t wear any make up, because that’s just covering up the real you. And I didn’t do my hair a certain way because the wind would just blow it out of place anyways. And of course I got stares and comments about it, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get to class before the bell rang. Because being late was kind of an issue for me, I didn’t like being tardy and missing some of the teacher’s directions. And then having to be all like ‘what just happened’ when the teacher finished talking, and having to ask them to repeat themselves for me. It was just a pain in the ass, and I didn’t really have any tolerance for the people I recognized who got on my nerves.

So I just tried not to pay any mind to them when I passed them. I stopped by my locker, grabbed my books, and headed upstairs to my first class. Most of that day was about the teachers droning on, and on about the list of rules and expectations they had.

When lunch hour came around, I couldn’t wait to look for my friends, Emma, and Michelle. I found them sitting at a table closest to the entrance to the commons area.

When I sat down, I said to them in an exhausted way.

“I’m so glad I found you guys. Those teachers sure can talk about their stupid expectations.”

Michelle looked to me, and asked us.

“Speaking of, why do they have them in the first place, if only about half of the class lives up to them?”

Emma shrugged and answered.

“I don’t know. Maybe just to remind those who over succeed some of the time.”

I sighed and said.

“Yeah maybe. God school sucks.”

Michelle, and Emma nodded in agreement.

After lunch was done and over with, we just had to finish our third class and move on to the last.

Strangely, and thankfully, there were only four classes we had to suffer through. But each class was ninety minutes long, and I couldn’t take ninety minutes of algebra. Strangely though, my algebra teacher made it seem interesting. No teacher has done that before, except two out of three from middle school.

After school, I was in for a grueling walk back home.

******

As instinct, dad asked me how the first day of school was. I told him how they treated us like we didn’t how a school worked, and kind of talked down to us. Or at least that’s how I felt.

A week later, the temperature started to cool off, and I fell back into the routine of getting up early and where my classes were.

Kids were still wearing shorts and sandals, where as I have started to move on to jeans and tennis shoes. And in that week, I came out as the smartest person there for weather attire.

When that second week of school rolled around, it was the beginning of the week. So that morning, I treated it like it was any other Monday morning. I collected my things, went upstairs, and waited for the day to start. But, something was a miss there. A boy who was around the same age, and (what I could see from his I.D.) in the same grade as me, was sitting on the table near the back of the class.

I went the other way to my seat, since he was unknowingly kind of blocking the first path. The first path was kind of small too.

Anyways, I just blew it off, since I didn’t know him, I had no reason to be mad about it. Plus being mad about something small and simple is stupid.

He sat about a table’s length away from me, so I thought maybe I should say something. Because I didn’t think he acknowledged that I was there. So, I put my stuff down, absently pulled my shirt down, walked up to him and said.

“Hey, um. I’m Joan Watson. What’s your name?”

I had my hand held out to take his, but he didn’t even flinch when I introduced myself to him, so I started to think.

_Okay, odd. Maybe he just doesn’t feel like talking today. He does seem new to this class. Maybe it was a schedule mix up, and he’s not too happy about it._

I took a deep breath and said.

“Okay, well. I’m going to go to my seat now, so, yeah.”

As I turned I made a face that I use when things get weird. Never have I ever felt more awkward in my life.

Slowly, but surely people started to file into class, not even taking notice to the boy sitting on the desk.

After the bell rang, and announcements were made, he and the teacher were at the front of the class. The teacher had a hand on his shoulder and said.

“Class, this is our new student Sherlock Holmes.”

For once, the class was silent. When his name was made known, my interest peeked and I thought.

_Oh, never heard a name like that before. That’s actually pretty cool._

Then the teacher continued talking.

“Sherlock, why don’t you have a seat next to Joan?”

The teacher gestured towards me to show him who he meant.

Sherlock didn’t say anything about it, just did as he was told.

I watched him make his way to the empty seat on my right.

Every now and then I would look to the corner of my eye to get a few glances at him.

He had brown, or black curly hair, his skin tone was kind of pale, and he had pale blue eyes. Nothing about him struck me as odd, they came at me as different and unique.

I thought that was pretty cool.

He didn’t talk much, which was okay. Some people don’t like to talk, which again, is okay.

After class ended, and people were starting to leave the room.

I took Sherlock by the arm to get his attention and said.

“Sherlock, if you need help catching up in class. I can help you. That is if you want me to.”

I gave him a warm smile, but he just kind of stared. No not stare, maybe more like glared at me and said.

“That won’t be necessary Joan.”

He tugged his arm away like I had it in a tight grip. At least he took notice to my introduction, but why did I feel like something was bothering him? I ran to catch up with him saying.

“Sherlock, wait up.”

I fell into step with him and asked.

“Hey, is something bothering you? Because if there is I could probably help.”

“Don’t be an idiot, there’s nothing you can help with.”

Ouch, I wasn’t sure if I should be angry or hurt. But I grabbed him by the arm again, a little tighter this time, pulled him to a stop, and said.

“Well, if there’s anything I can help with. Let me know okay? I’ll be more than happy to go out of my way.”

He didn’t take notice this time and yanked himself out of my grip. As he walked off, I turned in the other direction and said.

“A simple thank you would be much appreciated.”

After that I didn’t see him for the rest of the day, that is until the last class came around.

I was at my seat setting my stuff down, when I noticed him in the corner of my left eye. I turned to look at him, and he gave what I think was a frustrated sigh. I looked back down to my desk and thought.

_Nice to see you too._

The rest of the week was just silent between us. Friday rolled around, classes were done for the day, and as I’m closing my locker. I could hear that Sally Donavan and Anderson were saying something to Sherlock.

I knew it was him when they said his name. They were around the corner, I just stayed on my side.

I leaned against the wall, and listened to what they were saying. Apparently Donavan and Anderson had something about Sherlock to pick on him with. It was the fact that Sherlock was smarter than everyone in his classes, and Donavan and Anderson weren’t to keen on intelligence. So I stepped around the corner and said.

“Hey you guys, leave him alone.”

They looked at me and Anderson mocked.

“It looks like Sherlock got himself a girlfriend to stand up for him.”

I rolled my eyes and said.

“Oh shut up Anderson. Since when did intellect matter to you and Donavan? Last I check, you didn’t give a rat’s ass. Plus, aren’t you failing English already?”

Anderson’s face reddened and stormed off with Donavan on his heels.

I turned back to face Sherlock and said.

“Don’t let them get to you. They just like to make others feel as bad as them.”

“I had complete control of the situation before you stepped in.”

“Really? Because to me it just looked like you were standing there taking the shit they were giving you. That to me doesn’t say I’ve got this what so ever.”

“So then what I was supposed to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know walk away. And I think a thank you is in order, and an apology from Monday when I was just trying to be nice to you.”

“I don’t do thanks or sorry. I don’t even know why you were nice to me.”

“I’ve noticed you don’t say thanks or sorry. And the reason why I was nice to you, is because you’re new here and you don’t have any friends. Now I see why. You shoot down every kind offer you get like you’ve just been insulted or something.”

My temper was rising and Sherlock started to back off. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off saying.

“Save it. If you don’t want my help just say so. You don’t have to be total ass about it.”

I turned and stormed off in the other direction to leave the building. People had gathered around me and Sherlock expecting some kind of fight to happen, and they watched me end it. Disappointed that no one left with a black eye or something.

After I turned the corner and neared the exit, I could hear a set of foot steps running in my direction. Then there was a hand placed on my shoulder and I heard.

“Joan.”

I turned, not really surprised it was Sherlock, then he said.

“I’m sorry. And, thanks for Anderson and Donavan.”

My expression softened a little and I told him.

“Don’t mention it. I have to get going, my rides waiting for me.”

“Oh, alright.”

I wanted to move, but my legs wouldn’t let me, so I asked.

“Do you have a ride home?”

He looked at me and answered.

“No.”

“Would you like a ride home?”

Sherlock smiled and said.

“Sure.”

I smiled back and led him to mom’s car. I had her roll down the front passenger side window and asked.

“Hey mom. Do you mind if we give Sherlock a lift home?”

“No not at all. Where do you live Sherlock?”

He gave her his address, and we were off. We both sat in the backseat in silence.

After we pulled up in front of his house I said.

“I guess I’ll see you at school on Monday.”

“Yeah.”

And that was all he said, then he closed the door and made his way to his front door. After he stepped in, mom and I left.

Suddenly, there was something new sitting down inside me. And it was rising higher and higher. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but I didn’t mind the new feeling. But, the new feeling would appear when Sherlock was around. Then I started thinking.

_Oh no, I’m not falling in love with Sherlock am I?_


	2. Chapter 2

I thought that it was kind of weird that I felt sentiment towards a person I had just met. Then, one day something struck me as odd, two or three Fridays after school later, after I stood up for Sherlock.

He was by my locker, with what seemed like a nervous look on his face. I nearly jumped when I closed the door and turned.

“Jesus Sherlock. Warn a girl if you’re going to be next to them.”

“Sorry.”

“What can I do for you?”

He placed his right hand behind his head, and tried to say.

“Well, I’ve been telling my mother about you.”

I gave a concerned look, and questioned.

“Okay?”

He noticed the tone in my voice, and reassured.

“Don’t worry, they were good things. Anyways, she wanted me to ask you if you’d like to come over. Like maybe today or something.”

His face was turning red, almost like he was embarrassed to ask someone to hangout. I guess he really didn’t have any friends growing up.

Instead of shooting him down, I smiled and told him.

“Sure, it's my dad’s weekend. So I’ll have to tell him where I’m going, and let him know when I’m coming home.”

“Okay, great.”

I smiled, started to laugh a little, and asked.

“You’ve never done this before have you?”

“What?”

“Ask someone to hangout. You’re face keeps turning red every time you try to get it out. It's funny, and I think it's kind of cute too. Not that I’m trying to imply anything.”

I grabbed my phone from my pocket and texted dad where I was going.

_Hey, going to a friend’s house for a little while. Be home around four or five, give or take._

_JW_

After a few minutes I got a text back saying it was fine. Then I looked up at Sherlock, and asked.

“So, are we going on foot? Or did you have a ride in mind?”

“On foot, sorry. I like to take my time getting home.”

I waved a dismissive hand and told him.

“Oh it's fine. It's not that bad outside.”

I smiled to show that I didn’t mind having to walk. I really didn’t to be honest. I liked to take my time to get home when I was walking to my dad’s.

We reached one of the crosswalks and out of nowhere I heard.

“So when did your parents divorce?”

I looked to Sherlock and asked.

“How did you know that?”

“I noticed the obvious when your mom gave me a lift home. There was a lack of the husband, thought maybe he was working. Then you said it's your dad’s weekend not too long ago. The way you carry yourself shows that you’re struggling to keep a good bond between you and your mom. You’re closer to your dad and nearly had a joyful tone in your voice when you told me about his weekend. So when did they divorce?”

I stood there with my mouth hanging open, completely taken aback by what he said, then I gathered myself and answered.

“Not sure. Somewhere when I was in elementary school I think. Anything else you’d like to tell me?”

He looked at me and did a once over, then took in a deep breath and started talking. He was talking kind of fast, it’s a miracle I made anything out.

“You’re the third child of five. You have two younger siblings who bother you and an older one who irritates you. The oldest is out of town probably for school and you look up to them. Your dad wants you to do the same and have a good career after you graduate. He cares deeply about your grades, but it frustrates you and stresses you out. Your mom on the other hand doesn’t seem to think about college that much and is concerned about right now. Doesn’t care about grades as much as your dad, but it's there and you don’t worry about your mom as much as your dad when it comes to grades. And you haven’t slept that much in the past three days, possibly studying for tests in certain classes worried about what your dad will think. You also listen to different kinds of music and you like to write more than anything else.”

Again I was taken aback with what I heard. Everything was spot on, including the grades thing.

With amazement in my tone I told him.

“That. Was. Amazing.”

He looked at me a bit surprised and asked.

“Really?”

I nodded and answered.

“Truly amazing.”

“That’s not what people normally say.”

“What do people normally say?”

“Piss off.”

After a few moments of walking, Sherlock asked me.

“So did I get it right?”

“Everything you said was right, down to the writing. I have a little brother and sister, and two older sisters. I do look up to my oldest sister. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself? Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“I have an older brother named Mycroft.”

“Mycroft? That’s a unique name. Kind of like Sherlock. Okay so what about parents? Still together?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Where are you from? I mean clearly by the way you talk, you’re not from here.”

“I’m from London.”

“Oh cool. I’ve always wanted to go there. So why did you move here?”

“Mother wanted to see something different. And father gave in to what she wanted.”

When he said that, it sounded like he was disgusted that he moved.

“Okay. Did you have any friends back in London?”

“No. None of the other children liked me.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. I kind of know how that feels.”

“No you don’t.”

“Yes I do. I had no friends growing up. The only kind of friends I had were guy friends. That is until I started middle school, and I made at least two or three new friends.”

“And that’s why you don’t feel uncomfortable talking to me.”

I nodded my head and said.

“Yup.”

We walked a little more in silence. Not really liking how quiet it was, I plugged my head phones into my phone and listened to my music. Having only half my head phones in incase Sherlock had something he wanted to say. But instead, he asked if he could listen with me. I was fine with it, and that’s what we did all the way to his house.

******

It was three thirty when we got there, and I put everything away as we stepped in. When we walked in, my jaw dropped and I was thinking.

_This isn’t a house, it's like an estate or something._

Turns out I was right when Sherlock told me. I guess I never noticed how far out he lived and how much space there was between the house and backyard.

I was looking up and kind of doing circles in one place. All I was able to get out of my mouth was.

“Whoa.”

I looked back to Sherlock remembering how talk and said.

“This is so cool.”

“Thank you dear.”

I turned to see where the third voice had come from. There was tall woman walking in. She seemed to look a little like Sherlock, but then there was that saying that some kids look like their parents. She smiled, put out her hand and said.

“I’m Sherlock’s mom Violet. You must be Joan Watson. Sherlock talks so much about you.”

I took her hand and asked.

“What does he say?”

“He just says that you’re more clever than some of the students in your last class.”

“Well, I know I’m smart. But I wouldn’t say I’m smarter than everyone else.”

After I said that a man had walked in, Violet looked over to him and said.

“James, come meet Sherlock’s friend.”

James turned to look at me.

He smiled, grabbed my hand and said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I smiled back and said.

“Nice to meet you too sir.”

He looked back to Violet and said.

“And this one’s polite. I think our boy found the right one this time.”

He looked back to me. I still smiled, but this one was fake. When he let go of my hand I was thinking.

_What did he mean by that? This one’s polite? And what did he mean by this one? Were there other girls who met them before me? And what did he mean right one? I’m really confused._

The quietness between the four of us was increasing. Sherlock broke it by taking me by the arm and said to his parents.

“We should get going. We have a test next Thursday that we were going to study for.” He looked to me and I caught on.

“Yeah. And he said he’d help me with another class too.”

Violet nodded and said.

“Alright. Don’t be up too late. Remember, we have to take Joan home later. Or she could stay until tomorrow if she wants.”

I bit my lower lip, looked down, and thought about it. Then I looked back up and answered.

“If it's okay with you then I don’t mind. I’d just have to text my dad and tell him what’s going on. Then I’d have to go back to his house and grab some overnight things. Or I could have him bring them here.”

I started to get nervous about the whole thought. It's not the first time I’ve spent the night at a friend’s house. But it is the first time I’ve spent the night at a boy’s house.

I looked to Sherlock, and I thought he had an almost pleading look for me to stay in his eyes. Then I smiled and said.

“Oh what the heck. Sure I’ll stay the night. Again that is if you two don’t mind.”

Violet smiled and answered.

“I assure you it's no trouble. I’ll just have someone prepare a room for you.”

After Violet said that, she walked off with James right behind her. They were still talking about me and Sherlock.

I texted my dad saying that I was going to spend the night at Sherlock’s and asked him to bring my over night bag. He said he would and he’d see me in fifteen minutes.

After that was done, I looked to Sherlock and asked him the questions that were playing through my head earlier.

“What did your dad mean by this one’s polite? And what did he mean by this one? Were there other girls before me? And what did he mean by the right one?”

“Yes there were others. They didn’t have the manners you were raised with. And he means maybe I finally found the right. Girlfriend.”

“You mean like a friend?”

“No.”

“Oh. But you and I aren’t. I mean we’re not. There’s nothing like that between you and me. We’re just friends. But.”

I paused, took his hand, looked him in the eye and went on.

“If you want to be more than just friends. Then we can be. We just have to take it one step at a time.”

I smiled, thinking maybe I had found the right person to call my own as well. He held the hand I used to take his, and then said.

“Follow me. I’ll show you around.”


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing he showed me was the garden his mom had. It was huge and I was pretty surprised. But it was also really pretty. She had many kinds of flowers. Most of which I didn’t know the name to. Then he showed me his dad’s study, and some other rooms that I couldn’t remember.

He showed me the guest room that I would be staying in, and just down the hall was his room.

When we walked in, it almost looked like a tornado hit it. There were cluttered papers on his desk. A few things tossed about the floor, and some other stuff.

I looked to him and he said.

“Sorry about the mess. Didn’t think you would say yes.”

My expression softened, and I asked.

“Did they all say no?”

“Yeah they did.”

“So then how did your mom and dad know about the others?”

“Mycroft told them. He follows me almost everywhere, and stays out of range to not be seen.”

I did a half nod and answered back.

“Well, it's good to know that he cares. I think. Say where is he anyway? I kind of want to meet him.”

And almost as if on cue, someone knocked on the door and said.

“Sherlock. There’s someone waiting for Joan Watson at the front door.”

The door opened and a boy about maybe three or four years older than Sherlock and I walked in. I assumed that he was Mycroft since I had already met Sherlock’s parents.

I walked up to him holding my hand out and said.

“You must be Mycroft. I’m Joan, it's nice to meet you.”

Mycroft took my hand, looked at Sherlock and asked him.

“Are you sure about this one brother dear? She could turn out to be like the rest.”

“Piss off Mycroft.”

Mycroft let go of my hand and said.

“Good day Ms. Watson.”

Then he turned and left.

I looked back to Sherlock, then left for the front door for my bag. Sherlock was right behind me, he must have thought that I felt a little insulted by what his brother said. But I didn’t let it bother me, so to let him know that his brother didn’t bother me, I looked back and smiled. But I don’t think he understood.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, dad was already carefully watching the person behind me. I glared at him when I noticed, I grabbed my bag and whispered.

“Stop it dad. He’s not like the other guys. He’s different, kind, and very clever. So just knock it off right now.”

I turned back to Sherlock, and he seemed to have the same look dad had. I loudly cleared my throat.

When I had Sherlock’s attention I said.

“Sherlock, this is my dad. Dad, this is my friend Sherlock. Please don’t say or do anything that could possibly embarrass me when he’s over at our house.”

“You have my word Joan.”

“Thank you dad. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He nodded and left. I was glad I wasn’t there, it's not that I don’t love him. It's just that sometimes he can get hard to be around. And this was a better chance than ever to get away for a little bit. Then I called Sherlock out on what the look on his face was.

“What was that look for? It looked like you were trying to match his stare.”

“I wasn’t. I was simply deducting him.”

“Right. No need to tell me what you found, since I already know what he does.”

Sherlock didn’t say anything, so I only assumed that he understood. I sighed, grabbed my bag, and took it to the guest room. I wasn’t really sure if there was anything he and I can do, and since I already had my laptop in my bag, I decided to pull it out and check a few things. Then I updated a document that I had on there, that was basically ignored by my family, since no one ever needed my computer. I didn’t notice Sherlock had followed me until he sat down on my right and asked me.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped, and nearly slammed the lid down. Then I looked to him and said.

“Jesus Sherlock. What did I tell you about doing that?”

“Sorry.”

I only brushed it off and answered back.

“Oh it's fine.”

A few moments of silence passed between us as I closed the document and placed my laptop into my backpack. Then I sat back down, and Sherlock repeated his question.

“So, what were you doing on there?”

“Nothing. Just, working on a few things is all.”

Sherlock looked me up and down, then said.

“By your posture it doesn’t look like it was nothing.”

I stopped him before he could continue talking.

“Okay lets not go there. Hmm? Lets just try to have a good time hanging out with each other okay?”

Sherlock only nodded, I couldn’t shake the feeling like he really wanted to know what I was doing. But if given time the feeling would go away, and so I just ignored it completely.

Awhile later, Sherlock and I went to his room so he could show me some experiment he was working on. I was taken aback by what he had, and I thought.

_Wow, he must really like science. I don’t think the school would allow us to do something like this in a million years._

After that, Mycroft came up to get us saying that dinner was ready.

The dinning room was pretty big, and everyone seemed like it was a completely normal thing in the whole world. But to me, this was different and at the same time, it was pretty cool.

Everyone was talking about different things, and I wasn’t able to follow until Violet asked me.

“So Joan, when did you and Sherlock become friends? I mean normally he has a hard time making or keeping them.”

I bit my lower lip and thought about it. I wasn’t that good at thinking on the spot, but I managed to think of something and said.

“Well, I guess it would be around the second week school started. I had come up stairs to my first class, and he was sitting on the table placed in the back of the room. Then after class I offered to help him get up to speed with the rest of the class, but he politely declined the offer and we went our separate ways the rest of the day.”

I had completely lied about helping him out. He wasn’t polite what so ever, but I continued on fixing the parts that he and I didn’t do so well when we were talking.

“Then when Friday came around that week, it was like after school. I was on the other side of the lockers, and I could’ve sworn I heard Sally and Anderson talking.”

Violet leaned with interest and asked.

“Who’s Anderson?”

“His first name is Philip, but everyone calls him by his last name. Including the teachers, anyways. I heard them talking, and when I heard Sherlock’s name. I knew right away that they had found something about him to pick on him with. What they found was that Sherlock was smarter than everyone else in his classes. So I stepped around the corner and told them to stop. Anderson kept going and I used his failing English grades against him. Then he and Sally walked away.”

Violet nodded, then looked to Sherlock with an almost pitiful look that he was being picked on by Anderson and Donovan. Then she asked me to continue. I went on telling her what happened, not bothering to fix the part when he and I had fought in the hallway. She didn’t seem too upset about her son’s behavior, instead she told me.

“He does have a hard time saying thank you. But I appreciate that you helped him out.”

I smiled and told her.

“It was no trouble. I just really don’t like those two. And I’m sure nobody else does too.”

After that we kind of moved the conversation on to some other things. Most of which I pretended to understand, but in reality I had no clue what they were talking about.

******

Somewhere along the line Sherlock had disappeared upstairs somewhere, then came back down when I was going to find him. His brother and parents remained on the main floor, and I met up with Sherlock when I was halfway up the stairs.

I saw something tucked under his left arm, but didn’t get a good look at it until I was all the way up the stairs and on the landing with him. The smile I had earlier was gone when I realized he had my computer. My mood changed from having a good time, to shock, then it turned into pure anger. He noticed the quick mood swing and took me to the guest room.

After he closed the door, I snatched my laptop from his grip and shouted.

“You took my laptop? It's password protected. How in the hell did you get the password?”

“It wasn’t that hard to crack really. You should get rid of your password hint if you want it to stay safe.”

I quickly put my laptop on the bed, opened it, put in the password, and checked to make sure everything was alright.

When the screen came up, I noticed that a document was left opened. I knew which one it was. It was my diary document. I quickly looked up and my anger turned to rage, and I asked.

“You read my dairy?”

“You sure have a ton of problems to deal with.”

“What the hell Sherlock? You don’t read other people’s stuff unless they let you. And you definitely don’t read another girl’s diary. That’s invading their privacy.”

My mood changed from rage to disappointment. I felt like I couldn’t trust him after that. I harshly blinked away the tears threatening to come out, and asked.

“Will you leave me alone please? I’m not going to be coming out for the rest of the night.”

Sherlock only nodded and left.

I quickly closed the document, changed the password and took away the hint like he said. Then I slipped it back into my backpack, and allowed the tears to make their presence known. Out of all the people I thought I could trust, Sherlock Holmes was one of them. Now I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone anymore.

******

Three hours had passed, I was sitting in the middle of the bed, then there was a knock outside the bedroom. The door opened and I wasn’t surprised to see who it was. I turned away from Sherlock, I was still mad at him, and I didn’t want to talk to him. I guess he didn’t get what I was trying to suggest, because he started talking.

“Joan. I’m sorry for hacking your computer and reading that document.”

The only response he got from me was silence, but he continued on.

“I understand that you’re mad at me, and you have every right to be. But, please don’t be mad for long, I’d still like you to be my friend.”

Sine my back was turned, he couldn’t tell that my expression was starting to soften. When I turned to face him, he was standing behind me, then he asked.

“Still friends?” He held his hand out for me to take it. I gave up on being mad, smiled, took his, and said.

“Still friends. And maybe one day, even more.”

We shook on it and put the past behind us. I allowed him to stay a little while longer, until I had to kick him out. Because it was getting late and I wanted to change, and he went to do the same thing.

After we had changed, we sat and talked in his room. There wasn’t really that much talking after the both of us started to get really tired. The talking was more or less like stifled yawns in between words.


	4. Chapter 4

I’m not sure what time we had fallen asleep, but I remember waking up in his room, and I thought.

_What time did we crash? It must have been really late last night. And I guess I didn’t leave either, must have forgotten to do that._

I looked over to Sherlock who was probably up before me, and I asked.

“What time did we go to bed last night?”

“Around three.”

“At least it's Saturday, and not a school night.”

I huffed, stood up, and stretched sore muscles. I must have fallen asleep sitting up since my legs were sore from being crossed, and the left side of my neck ached. Probably from being at an odd angle. While I was stretching out my sore muscles, Sherlock asked me.

“How did you sleep?”

I kind of shrugged a little and answered.

“Okay I guess. How about you?”

“Fine.”

I nodded and just left it at that.

The rest of that morning was spent talking. Most of that time was him talking about things I didn’t know about, and I just pretended to understand.

Around eleven o’clock I chose to get ready to go, since my dad was coming at eleven thirty. As I was just about finished packing, there was a knock at the door, so I said.

“Come in.”

I zipped up my overnight bag and turned around to see Mycroft standing there. A few quick ticks of silence passed between us, then I asked.

“Can I help you with anything?”

“What is your association with Sherlock?”

“I’m just his friend. Why do you ask?”

“How many friends do you think he has Ms. Watson?”

“By the way things started off in school. I’d say none. Why are you so interested?”

“If there’s anything that I’ve noticed about you Ms. Watson, is that you’re very loyal after you’ve just met my brother.”

“Right, you two do observe a lot. But again, why so interested?”

“Do be sure to treat my brother with respect Ms. Watson. Good day.”

He smiled and left me standing there with a very confused look. I brushed it off and returned to what I was doing.

After about ten minutes I had my stuff ready to go, and took them downstairs. On my way down I ran into Violet, I stepped back a little and told her.

“Oh sorry about that.”

She smiled and told me.

“Oh that’s quite alright. Did you enjoy spending time here?”

I smiled, nodded, and answered.

“Yes ma’am I did. Thank you for letting me stay.”

“You’re welcome. Maybe the two of you can do this again sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe. Thanks again.”

She smiled, and nodded, and we went our separate ways.

I dropped my stuff off by the door, and just watched for my dad. Even though I knew I had of plenty of extra time to hangout. So to kill some of that extra time, I slipped on my shoes, and walked around the garden again.

I was walking by some flowers, and heard a voice behind me ask.

“Nice aren’t they?”

I jumped, turned, saw Sherlock behind me, and reminded.

“Warning next time. And yes they are.”

“Mother has a thing for growing plants.”

I nodded and turned back to look back a them.

After a few minutes my phone went off. I checked to see who texted me. It was dad and it said he was here, so I told him I would be out in a just a few minutes. After I did that, I turned to Sherlock and asked.

“Can I see your phone?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled it out. I took it from his hand, went to his contacts, put my number in it, and said.

“There, now you have my number. And incase I don’t answer my phone.”

I grabbed a pen out of my pocket, wrote my email address on his hand, and told him.

“Another way to reach me. Then if I want to know who’s texting me.”

I sent a message from his phone to mine saying that it was him. After that I saved his number in my phone, then handed his back with a smile and said.

“There, done. Now you have two ways to get a hold of me incase one doesn’t work. And I need to get going, my dads here.”

I walked back into the house to get my bag, and I saw that dad, and Sherlock’s parents were talking.

 _Okay, hopefully this is good._ I thought.

They all stopped and looked at me, then dad asked me.

“Ready to go Joan?”

“Yeah. Thanks again for having me. It was fun.”

Mr. and Mrs. Holmes smiled and said their goodbyes. I waved once at Sherlock, and he nodded.

The hand I wrote on turned into a fist, as if he was trying to hide the pen ink in his hand. That is until I saw his brother take him by the wrist to see, and then showed it to his parents.

I could tell they thought it was sweet, and it looked like Sherlock would die of embarrassment. I held back a laugh, and got into dad’s car.

After getting in, and buckled up, dad asked.

“So, how spending time with your friend?”

“It was fine. We had a good time.”

I noticed him looking at me through the rear view mirror with an eye brow raised, and I stated with a glare.

“Not like that. Just hanging out. Jesus dad.”

He smiled, and I thought.

_Child._

After the weekend passed, Sherlock and I started hanging out in the mornings.

It was a Tuesday morning when Anderson finally worked up the nerve to talk to us.

We were sitting on a bench that looked out over the tables. I had one leg down and the other pulled up next to me with my arm draped over it. And Sherlock was sitting cross legged.

Anderson started off friendly towards me, then got rude with Sherlock when he talked to us.

“Hello Watson. Holmes.”

I looked up, glared, and asked.

“What do you want Anderson?”

He put on a smile and said.

“I was just wondering if you two were going to homecoming.”

I looked to Sherlock when he asked Anderson.

“Why does that concern you?”

“It doesn’t. I was just simply giving Joan an invitation to go with me.”

My glare turned into a death stare when I asked.

“Isn’t that what your girlfriend is for?” I took a pause and then said with an over cheery attitude. “Or better yet, Sally could with you. I know you two have been going out behind your girlfriend’s back.”

I think I could literally see steam come from Anderson, as he turned and stormed off.

Once he had gone, Sherlock and I started laughing. What I said though was true. But I didn’t know for sure until Sherlock had told me. So he and I teased Anderson every now and then with it.

After that, since Sherlock and I had the same first class, we walked up there together. We passed Anderson and Donovan. They gave us a dirty look, I shot one back, and they quickly looked away.

******

Like usual, the day went rather slow, had lunch, finished class, went to math class, and ended the day. At my locker though, I pondered about going to homecoming. I did want to go, but I wasn’t sure who else I knew was going. Besides Anderson, I had no idea.

My friends Emma and Michelle came up and we started talking. Emma started the conversation with a question.

“Hey Joan, are you going to homecoming?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Are you guys?”

With an over enthusiastic attitude, Michelle answered.

“Yes. Well, I am for sure.”

“I’m going too Joan. Maybe we can just talk while we’re there.”

“I don’t know. I mean I want to but at the same time I don’t want to. So, I’m just not sure. I mean maybe.”

Before I started to go rambling off, Emma said.

“Joan it's fine if you don’t want to go. It's on a Friday, and if you don’t want to go, then we can have a girl’s night out.”

I smiled and nodded, then turned to leave with the two of them still talking. I thought that day was going to be fine at the end. Boy was I dead wrong.

Anderson and Donovan came walking up to the three of us with a devilish smile. They stopped when they were an arm’s length away from us. They were still smiling like they had just boosted their self confidence, and getting tired of it I asked.

“What do you guys want?”

Anderson leaned forward as he talked.

“We heard from someone that you went to Sherlock’s place on Friday.”

“So?”

Donovan took her turn in talking.

“We also heard that some other things happened.”

I got a little confused and asked.

“What things?”

They looked at each other with that devilish smile, then looked back to me, and Donovan said.

“You know.”

And she left it at that.

Then Anderson said to her.

“No wait. I heard it was because his brother forced her to be his friend.”

I took a small step back and asked.

“What?”

Thinking they were funny they went on, with Donovan saying.

“He did. And she agreed to it.”

I choked back on my own words then said.

“No that never happened I swear. I went at my own will.”

Anderson stepped into personal space and said.

“Right. You can tell yourself that Watson.”

I took in a sharp breath, moved around them, and ran for my mom’s car as soon as I was out the door. I grabbed the handle, and slammed the door shut. I was already starting to get upset, mom turned around and asked.

“Joan. What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Just drive.”

“Are you okay?”

“Just drive will you?”

She turned around, put the car in reverse, and drove.

Thankfully she wasn’t upset about the way I talked to her. Everyone knew that it was never a good thing when I was upset.

When we got back, I ran upstairs to my room, and locked the door. I threw myself on my bed, landing on my stomach, and I cried. Never have I been accused of doing something I would never do.

******

After thirty minutes there was a knock on my door. No one waited for an answer, they used a pick to unlock the door, and they walked in.

I was sitting against the wall at the head of my bed, with my knees curled up close to my chest, and my right hand on my head pulling back my hair.

Mom had walked in with a sympathetic look, sat down next to me, and pulled me close to her.

I wrapped my arms around her and silently cried on her shoulder.

We sat there for a good two minutes before she told me.

“One of your friends is downstairs patiently waiting for you when you’re ready.”

I nodded, and she left, closing the door behind her. I stood up, took a deep breath, wiped my eyes, and walked out the door.

When I got downstairs, Sherlock was waiting for me. He obviously knew that I had been crying, and didn’t say anything about it.

Instead he asked me.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded and answered.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Your friends told me what happened. I saw the end of it. Just you walking away, then running towards your mom’s car as soon as you were outside.”

I rubbed the back of my head and said.

“Oh, you saw that. Look I don’t normally do that.”

“No need to explain. I already have a plan to get back at them Joan. But I need your help.”

Apparently the plan to get back at Anderson and Donovan, was to get into their lockers and plant some kind of explosive in there. It wouldn’t hurt the whole school or the locker. It was meant to just hurt them. Not so bad that they would miss a few days of school, but I was secretly hoping. It would just give them a shock. And make them look like the people would on TV after an explosion, kind of.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the long wait. I went out of town for spring break and I forgot my computer. When I got home yesterday I had to do a lot of unpacking that took up most of my time, then I went over to a friend's house. Again sorry for the late update, but thanks a lot for reading, leaving Kudos and so on :)

The next morning we were able to somehow plant them in their lockers. Sherlock guarantied that no one could prove that it was us, or trace it back to us.

We waited for Anderson first. He had a look of pleasure on his face from yesterday. No doubt he had that look as well after I left.

I looked to Sherlock, and he nodded for us to move. Anderson gave another pleased look and said.

“Respect, now that’s more like it.”

Sherlock and I looked to each other and just smiled. I was counting down the seconds until that locker door opened.

_Five, four, three, two, one._

Anderson got his locker open, and got hit with one of the explosives. He had blue paint on his face, and a little on his shirt.

_Sally’s turn._ I thought. 

I looked to Sherlock and fought back a smile. He knew what I was thinking.

We rushed upstairs, we had only three seconds before Sally’s went off. At the last second we made it.

Sally’s door opened and we could see a few paint splatters as it hit her in the face.

She closed her door, wiped the paint from her eyes, looked to the two of us and said.

“Very funny.”

I crossed my arms, leaned forward and asked.

“Karma’s a bitch huh?”

I was no longer fighting back the smile that spread across my face.

Sally stormed off into the bathroom. No doubt Anderson did the same downstairs.

The two of us looked at each other and smiled, then walked to our first class, pretending that nothing happened.

Near the middle of the day, I was still smiling about earlier. Emma and Michelle noticed and asked what’s up. I just told them that I got back at Anderson and Donovan with a friend’s help. They didn’t have to guess who that friend was. Michelle said that they were asking for it and Emma and I agreed with her.

Sadly we didn’t have lunch with Anderson or Donovan, but I would have loved to see how well they got the paint off. Not to mention that some of it had a little bit of ink from a pen, and a little wall paint. So they would have had a hard time getting it off.

I felt pleased with our project. It was nice and I learned a little something new.

******

After school, Sherlock had stopped by my locker, we were talking about the paint explosion, and I asked.

“Did you see the look on Anderson’s face?”

“Yes. I guess we found our definition on idiocy.”

“And then Sally’s look. You can take a picture and put it on a shirt. That was fun. We should do that more often. Not as a joke, like as payback.”

I laughed a little, then somehow homecoming came floating around in my head. I looked up to him, and asked.

“Sherlock, were you planning on going to homecoming this Friday?”

“I’ve heard people talk about it, but it never crossed my mind.”

I looked down and said.

“Oh.” I looked up again when he said.

“But, if you were planning on attending then I will concider it. Even though it does seem a little short notice.”

I swear I think right then and there my cheeks flushed a bright red when I told him.

“Uh, okay. I’ll see you there.” I turned and walked off, biting my lower lip and thinking.

_Okay, relax Joan. It's just a dance, and you’re going with him as a friend. Nothing more than that._

Friday was in two days, and I really hadn’t thought about going to any dance. But thankfully I didn’t have to worry about the dress. I have one stored in the closet from when I went to a family member’s wedding, and a pair of shoes that I liked. So I was set to go. Though I worried for Sherlock’s sake because I hadn’t thought that he’s been to a school dance before.

Anyways, the next morning Emma and Michelle had asked me yet again if I was going to the dance. This time I told them I was, and they flipped a little. They asked who I was going with and I told them they would have to wait and see. The day flew by like normal, and my stomach was starting to turn due to being nervous.

I started to think that maybe this was a bad idea, and I thought maybe I should back out. But then my mind went through all the things that Sherlock had to go through and they would be for nothing. So I sucked it up, managed the rest of the week, and went through the rest of Friday.

The dance didn’t start until seven, we wouldn’t be leaving until six fifty five, and Sherlock wouldn’t be here until six fifty. So I had time to get ready.

I cleaned up, put the outfit together, did my hair, and even did my make up a little. I had curled my hair, the dress tied around my neck and back, and stopped below the knee, and I had silver flat foot shoes. I was ready by the time the door bell rang. I ran down the stairs shouting.

“I got it mom.”

When I opened the door, I think Sherlock’s jaw nearly dropped.

He was wearing a dress shirt and pants, and nice dress shoes, I smiled and told him.

“Not a word about this. Come on in. Mom is going to want to take pictures. So if you could convince her not to, that would be awesome.”

Just as I finished talking, low and behold mom came down stairs, phone in hand. Thankfully we talked her out of taking pictures, and we were out the door at the designated time.

******

Once we reached the school, I waved to mom and told her that I’d call her once we were ready to go.

When we walked in, it wasn’t as crowed as I thought it would be. I saw Anderson and his girlfriend, and Donovan and her date.

My gaze moved over to my friends. I walked over to them, and didn’t know that Sherlock had followed me. Guess he hadn’t made any other friends, I thought about introducing him to Greg Lestrade from my science class.

When we got to Emma and Michelle, they started right off with complements.

We talked for a little while, hung out, got Sherlock introduced to Greg, and danced to a few songs.

After awhile, I tried talking louder than the music to be heard.

“Sherlock. Tomorrow my cousin and I are going skating. Would you like to come with?”

“What time will you be leaving?”

“At twelve thirty. So I’d try to get there by twelve twenty five if I were you.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Alright. I’ll let my aunt know.”

I quickly sent a text to her saying that I had a friend who would be joining us. She was okay with it, and I was glad to know that I wouldn’t have to put up with my cousin alone.

Somewhere along the line the two of us had moved from the dance area to the out skirts of it, and we just talked.

“So, when did your family decide to move?”

“Near the end of summer. How long were you planning on skating?”

“From one to four. It's only three hours.”

A few moments of awkward silence passed between us. The rest of that night was spent in awkward moments. A few pauses of silence here, small conversation there.

******

We had five minutes before mom came to get us, and we were standing outside in the cool air. Hey, even September had it's warm nights for some odd reason.

We were in the middle of another awkward silence, and just to break it I asked.

“So, what did you think?”

“About what?”

“The dance.”

“Oh.”

“If you didn’t like it that’s fine, but I was kind of thinking-”

As I turned my head to look at him, his lips met mine. I was taken aback for a moment, but I just fell into it.

After a moment, I moved back a little and said.

“Well, that was a bit. Unexpected.”

“You’re not upset?”

I started to smile, shook my head, and answered.

“No, just surprised is all.”

I swallowed a knot in my throat, then asked.

“Was that your move then?”

“Yeah.”

“Right, I did promise that some day we’d be more than friends. I guess tonight is as good a time than ever.”

I took his hand in mine as I saw mom pull up.

We walked to the car, still hand in hand. Once in the car mom asked.

“So how was the dance you two?”

Sherlock and I looked at each other with a smile. I looked back to her and answered.

“It was good.”

She noticed that look in my eye, and decided to talk about it later.

When we pulled up in front of Sherlock’s house, he started to get out and I said.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He nodded, closed the door, and went inside. After we pulled away mom asked me.

“So what else happened between you two?”

“I think you’d be able to tell.”

“I saw when I pulled up. When did this happen?”

“That my friend can be figured out on your own.”

When we got inside the house, I think I actually danced a little to my room. I was looking forward to tomorrow.

*****

The next day was spent getting ready to go and looking for my skates. I wasn’t able to get the chance to find them when the doorbell rang.

I ran towards the door, and when I opened it I said.

“Hey, come on in. I was just about to go to the garage to look for my skates. Mind helping me look?”

Sherlock smiled and answered.

“Not at all.”

“Great. Follow me.”

I led him to the garage, and we looked at separate ends.

******

Sherlock eventually found them, I went up to him and reached for them. He pulled them out of reach, I smiled and told him.

“Come on then, give them here.”

“Not until you give me something.”

“We don’t have time for that. Now give.”

I tried to reach past him, but he pulled them back further. I started to laugh a little and told him.

“Come on now, give them to me.”

I reached a little more until I was leaning a little into him, and our faces were just inches away from each other.

And just like last night, he leaned down to kiss me. I gave him a quick one then said.

“Alright you got what you wanted, now give me what I want.”

He gave me my skates and I told him.

“Thank you love. Now come on, my aunts going to be here soon.”

We went back inside to find her and my cousin waiting by the door.

I opened it, let them in, and said.

“Amanda, Logan. Good to see you again.”

Amanda wrapped me in a hug and said.

“You too Joan. Is this your friend then?”

I stepped back and answered.

“Yeah. Sherlock, this Amanda and Logan. Logan, Amanda, this is Sherlock.”

I intertwined my hand with his when I did introductions.

They took the hint, and Amanda smiled.

My little sister came running down the stairs chanting.

“Joan has a boyfriend, Joan has a boyfriend.”

“Oh like you haven’t met the others Jessie.”

“Jessie’s your little sister then?”

“Yeah. I forgot you haven’t met the whole family yet. There’s Jessie, Jackson, Harriet, or Harry for short, and Jessica. Shall we get going?”

The five us walked out, Jessie, Sherlock, and I sat in the back, while Logan sat up front.

On the way there, I stared out the window and counted how many times we stopped.


	6. Chapter 6

Once we got to admission, we got a ticket for a pair of rental skates since everyone but one person had their own.

I passed my skates on to Amanda and went with Sherlock to get him a pair that fit.

After a few tries, we finally found a pair, and went back to join the others to put on skates. I had mine on in a few minutes, while Sherlock still had to deal with the laces.

I knelt down and told him.

“Here let me.”

I laced them up faster than anyone else could, stood up and said.

“Right then, lets go.”

I headed off and waited for him by the entrance. He took awhile and I asked.

“Have you ever skated before?”

“Of course I have. It's been awhile for me that’s all.”

“Me too, but everyone picks up at their own pace. I’m going to skate a few laps and I’ll be back.”

He nodded and I took off.

I watched him with a careful eye, noticed that he nearly fell a few times, and thought.

_Jeez, must have been a long time for him._

After a few laps, I was just about to reach him when he lost his balance. I was right behind him, and caught him.

After I got Sherlock upright I asked again.

“You’ve never been skating have you? And don’t lie.”

I moved in front of him a little, he looked at me then answered.

“No.”

“That’s alright. I’ll help you. Here.”

I started to skate backwards, and offered him my hands.

He took them, and I literally dragged him along while telling him how to skate.

“Just move your feet like everyone else. It's easy once you get the hang of it.”

He listened and got it after a few tries.

I smiled and said.

“There you go. Now, lets see if you can keep up.”

“Keep up with who?”

“Me.”

I smiled, turned back around, and sped up leaving Sherlock in the dust.

He glared a little, and tried to pick up the pace.

Eventually he caught up to me and I smiled.

He picked up fast, and hopefully sooner or later, we can move him to roller blades.

******

As time progressed so did Sherlock’s skating. We had another two hours before we had to leave, and I was hanging out at the table.

Eventually Logan came over and asked.

“So Joan. What’s the relationship between you and Sherlock?”

“I thought it was obvious when I introduced you to him. He and I are going out.”

“Oh. Okay, I’m going to go now.”

I smiled and let him go.

Near the end of the day, the DJ started to play two slow songs to skate to.

I literally dragged Sherlock out for a few more laps, and after that, we went home. Well, my aunt dropped us off, and Sherlock’s brother came to get him. I think when Mycroft looked my way, there might have been a dirty look to it. But I didn’t let Mycroft get to me. I think maybe he was trying to intimidate me. Maybe that’s what he did with the other girls. I made a note to ask Sherlock about that later.

I never really did get around asking Sherlock about that. It was mostly spent with studying for important exams, and trying to cram as much as possible.

The school year eventually ended and summer rolled around. I was going out of town for a week in the middle of summer. The day to leave would be the day after Jackson’s birthday. But there was time to worry about that later, the fourth of July came around, and I invited Sherlock to come with us to my grandparent’s house. I told him that it would be a break from his parents and Mycroft.

He eventually agreed to it, and most of that evening was spent at my grandparents. He got to meet all my cousins, second cousins, aunts, and uncles.

After that, a few weeks came and went, and then next thing I know, we’re packing the car to get ready to leave town.

******

After a seven hour drive, and three days later. I got a text, and I was amazed that I had cell reception. Anyways, here’s what the text said.

_Joan, where are you? I thought we had plans sometime this week._

_SH_

I laughed a little, then replied.

_No, we had to cancel them remember? I went out of town for the week._

_JW_

_Where did you go?_

_SH_

_I went to Minnesota, I’ll be back in four days time. I promise. And I might bring something back for you to possibly run an experiment on. Maybe something simple._

_JW_

_Alright, I’ll see you when you get back._

_SH_

I laughed a little again. Sherlock had his own little way of saying bye I love you. But you know, after awhile I got used to it. I decided to bring him back a little lake water since it's always crawling with something.

Somehow I had a test tube and cap with me. I don’t remember how they got there, but I was glad I had them.

I went out to the doc, rolled up my sweatshirt sleeve, grabbed the tube, laid down on my stomach, and placed the tube in the water.

While I was filling the tube, one of my cousins came up and asked.

“Joan, what are doing?”

Without looking up I honestly told him.

“Getting lake water for my boyfriend to test when I go back home.”

“Did he ask for lake water?”

“No, but I thought this would be a good idea to run some experiments on.”

“Do you want some help?”

“No that’s okay I got it. Thanks though.”

“No problem.”

After my cousin left, I stood up, put the cap on the tube, and carefully placed it in my pocket.

The next day, mom and I went into town. We stopped by one place, and I saw a few small boxes. I pulled the tube from my pocket and did size comparisons with it, and the boxes.

After the third comparison, I found the right one and asked mom to get it for me. She didn’t ask why, and I think it's because she saw the test tube filled with lake water.

After we got the box, and went back to the cabins. I carefully placed the tube in the box, then wrote something in pen on the lid. Just to be sure that the lid stayed on the box, I found some string that my mom had, and used that to keep it on tight.

******

Finally the week ended, and we left to head home. We didn’t get back until midnight, and didn’t get done unpacking the car, and the bags until two o’clock in the morning. I think after about five hours of sleep, my phone started ringing. I reached, and literally felt my way for my phone.

Once I grabbed it, in a tired tone I said.

“This is Joan.”

“Joan, are you back in town yet?”

I made a tired smile, then answered.

“Yes Sherlock, I’m home. But I need a day to myself, I got home at midnight and didn’t finish unpacking until two last night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I heard a frustrated sigh, then he answered.

“Alright, see you tomorrow.”

“I love you too.”

I didn’t get a response after that, just complete silence. I pulled my phone away and saw that he hung up. I smiled once again, and sent a quick text.

_Brought you something from Minnesota._

_JW_

_What did you bring?_

_SH_

_You’ll see when you get it._

_JW_

After that, I just left him to guess what I had for him.

The next day, I went over to his place and hung out for the day. When I got there, his brother opened the door, and said.

“Hello Ms. Watson.”

“Hey Mycroft.”

“How was your trip?”

“Fine.”

“My little brother kept mentioning that you were planning on bringing something for him.”

“Something to test on.”

“Nothing that lives I hope.”

“No, just lake water. Can I see Sherlock now?”

Mycroft stepped to the side and let me in. I turned and told him.

“Thank you.”

Mycroft only nodded then told me that Sherlock was out in the garden waiting for me.

I walked out and saw him standing by the same flower bed where we stood the last time I was there. I walked to stand behind him, wrapped him in a reverse hug, and said.

“I missed you. Miss me?”

In a calm and almost bored way, Sherlock answered.

“Yes.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. I brought you something like I promised.”

I let go of him, he turned, then asked in an almost excited way.

“What is it?”

“Well first, lets go back inside. I think you might want to use some of your tools.”

He gave a look of interest, then said.

“Oh, something to experiment on.”

I smiled and told him.

“Yup. Come on, lets go inside.”

We went inside and up to his room. I pulled the box from my pocket, and handed it to him. Once the string and top was off, Sherlock pulled out the test tube, and held it up to the light. Then looked to me and asked.

“What’s in here?”

“Lake water. I knew that something must be crawling around in there. So I thought about bringing it back for you to test. Now don’t waste that all in one day. I can’t go back to get more, so use it sparingly.”

Then what I thought was a little laugh, turned into a small smile. Then Sherlock looked at me and said.

“Thank you Joan.”

“You’re welcome. Would you like to get to started testing with it?”

His smile grew, then handed me the tube, so he could grab a dropper and slide. He placed the slide on his desk, I took off the cap and held the tube as he used the dropper to get some water out.

******

That whole day was spent testing the water, and it was half gone by the end of the day.

When it slipped to midevening, Violet came in and told me that my mom was here. I gave her my thanks, placed a kiss on Sherlock’s head, and walked out. I also saw a look only a mom could use when they saw something sweet, then I smiled and told her.

“Yeah, we kind of moved on after the dance.”

She gave another look that only a mom could use. Then I walked out of the house and to mom’s car.


	7. Chapter 7

Summer came and went faster than desired. But it was nice to see friends again. And I thought that maybe this year, I could show Anderson, and Donovan that Sherlock did have someone who was more than just a friend.

But that could be dealt with later, when Sherlock and I saw each other that morning, I decided to ask him about the test results, and how much lake water he had left.

He told me that it was still half empty then gave me what he got from it. I wasn’t sure what half the things he was telling me was. But I could tell that he was very pleased with what he got. Then I started to think.

 _Maybe I should leave and bring back lake water more often._ Then another thought hit me.  _Wait, we have a few lakes here. But, better not tell Sherlock, he might want to do comparisons._

I lost myself in thought and hadn’t realized that Greg had came up to us and started talking. The guys didn’t have my attention until Greg was repeating my name.

“Joan, Joan.”

“Hmm?”

“What have you done over the summer?”

“Oh, I went out of town. Helped a friend at the county fair, and brought back some lake water for this guy.”

I gestured to Sherlock with my head. I saw a slight smile spread on his face as he told Greg.

“Yes she did. And the tests gave me brilliant results.”

Greg and I looked at each other and traded amused smiles.

After I did that I told them both that I was going to my locker to get a few things and that I would be right back.

******

On my way down the hall, I ran into a girl with light brown hair, and brown eyes. We stepped back a little and she said.

“Oh, terribly sorry.”

I looked at her and said.

“Oh it's fine.” I gently took her I.D. then continued. “Molly Hooper. That’s a nice name, I’m Joan Watson.”

I held out my hand, and she nervously took it. I saw on her I.D. that she was in the same grade as me. And trying to sound nice, I asked.

“You’re new here aren’t you?”

She gave a weak smile and answered.

“Yeah I am.”

“The school’s not that exciting as teachers make it seem huh?”

“No it's not.”

“Hey I was heading to my locker, then back down stairs. Want to hang out with me and my friends?”

“Sure thanks.”

I gave her a smile to let her know that it was no trouble.

We talked for awhile, and became fast friends.

When we got down stairs, Greg noticed Molly beside me and asked.

“Who’s your new friend Joan?”

“Greg, and Sherlock. This is Molly Hooper. Molly, this Greg Lestrade and Sherlock Holmes. I have two other friends for you to meet. They’re really nice and fun.”

And as if on cue, Michelle and Emma came walking up. I did introductions for them and Molly, and the three of them just went off to talk.

I just smiled and rolled my eyes. Then Greg saw a few of his friends, and left to go talk to them. Leaving just me and Sherlock, but the time for just us was short lived.

Too much time had already passed and we had to get to class. I gave him a quick kiss and said I’d see him later.

Later couldn’t get here sooner, it took forever for lunch time to come. Sadly Anderson was there, but I think I had something to rub in his face.

Anyways, when I met up with Sherlock outside the lunch line, Anderson came walking up. I noticed that he didn’t have Donovan or his girlfriend with him. So when he was in hearing range I asked him.

“Where’s your girlfriend Anderson?”

Anderson gave a dirty look then answered.

“She dumped me.”

I gave a fake pouting face and said.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. If there’s anything we can do, let us know.”

I intertwined my hand with Sherlock’s and placed my head on his shoulder when I said that. After I did that, Anderson smirked a little and said.

“There is something you two can do for me. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on between you two.”

“Well isn’t it obvious Anderson? Joan is giving you all the signs. She already gave you two.”

I smiled, Anderson was still as blind as ever, then I said.

“He’s right you know. Intertwined hands, girl’s head is on boy’s shoulder. Surely you and your ex did that.”

Then it finally hit him.

“Wait, Watson you’re with Holmes? Since when?”

“Since the end of homecoming genius.”

“Since when did you have the nerve to put up with him Watson?”

“Ever since she met me, now piss off Anderson.”

Awhile after Anderson left, I saw Molly and the two of us talked during lunch, after my third class, I saw her again in my last class.

Molly was pretty smart, and fun to be around, and eventually I invited her to come over and hangout.

It was Friday after school when we hung out. My mom didn’t mind her coming over, and she told me that her parents thought it would be a good idea for her to make a few new friends.

Anyways, when we got to my house, I introduced her to my family. Then we went upstairs to my room and hung out. We talked, and told each other what we planned on doing after we graduate high school. (Said plans will be told later).

Then after awhile, Molly had to go home and I told her that I would see her on Monday.

******

We had reached September yet again, homecoming came around once more, and I decided that this time I wouldn’t go.

The date was also the anniversary date that Sherlock and I got together. But, I don’t think he cared much. Well, I thought that until the school day came around.

It was Thursday morning, I was talking to Molly, Emma, and Michelle. There wasn’t anything specific that we were talking about, just went from one thing to another.

I hadn’t noticed that Greg and Sherlock were behind me, when one of them placed a hand on my shoulder. I jumped a little, then turned.

Without saying a word, Sherlock pulled out the same box I gave him when it had the test tube. I gave him a funny look and asked.

“Why are you giving the box back?”

“Open it.”

I took the box from his hand, and opened it.

When I took the lid off, I was completely in shock when I saw what was inside. It was a locket in the shape of a heart. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open.

Then I heard Sherlock say.

“Open the locket.”

I placed the box on the table that we were sitting at, and opened the locket.

On one side it was a picture of me and on the other it was him. I looked at him and asked.

“How did you get a picture of me.”

“Your mom gave me your year book picture the last time I was at your house.”

I think my face reddened a little, but after that I stood up, gave Sherlock a hug and said.

“Thank you.”

I let go of him then told him.

“I got you something too.”

I pulled out the same sized box, he opened it and there was another test tube full of lake water, and I explained to him.

“That water is from the lake by my dad’s apartment. I thought you might want to do a comparison with the water from Minnesota.”

“Water from different places to get different results. Neat.”

I smiled, shrugged and told him.

“It was nothing. Really hard to get this sample though. There wasn’t really a doc at that lake.”

I think Greg got a little confused with what was going on, and Molly since she was new to the school. I could see the confused expression they had, and Sherlock told them.

“Oh and since you and Molly were so kind to show. Joan and I are-”

I cut him off finishing the sentence for him.

“Dating.”

Greg gave an amused smile and congratulated Sherlock, while my friends flipped out a little. I looked at the clock and saw what the time was. Then I grabbed Sherlock’s hand and said.

“Now if you’ll please excuse us. We have classes to get to.”

Not waiting for a response, I led Sherlock away from them and upstairs. Yet again having the same first class.

When we entered the room, Sherlock asked me.

“Was that really necessary?”

“Trust me, if you wanted to get away from my friends, it was very necessary.”

“Fair enough.”

I smiled, and let out a small laugh. Not much happened later that month. That is until near the very last week of September.

So, it was the middle of the week and it was after school. When I got home, I saw that mom looked very upset. I went up to her and asked.

“Mom? Are you okay?”

She looked at me, but wasn’t able to find what she was looking for. Or in other words, she couldn’t find the right words she wanted to say.

After a few moments I asked.

“Mom what’s wrong?”

“Joan, your grandpa passed away today.”

“What? You’re not serious are you?”

“I wish more than anything to not be serious.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was completely lost for words, and I never thought I’d be ready to hear that. All I could come up with was a lie that we told each other to make one another feel better.

“It’ll be okay mom. We’ll be okay eventually.”

I gave mom a hug, then went upstairs to my room and cried.

******

The next day wasn’t that much better.

When I got to school, Sherlock was waiting outside the front doors. I gave him a weak smile, and let my gaze drift down.

We walked inside, then once we reached the commons area, he stopped me and asked.

“What happened? Who upset you?”

“Sherlock don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

“Clearly you’re not. Something happened, obviously someone told you. So what happened?”

“My. Grandpa passed away.”

“Oh. I’m, sorry I didn’t mean to-”

“It's fine Sherlock you don’t need to be sorry. I’ll be fine, just need time to myself for awhile. Um, the service is next week on Monday.”

Sherlock grimaced a little and asked.

“Who would want to do that on a Monday? The service I understand but not the day.”

“Sherlock.”

“Sorry.”

“It's fine. Anyways, I was wondering if you would come with me. You know, as moral support. It's after school too just so you know.”

Sherlock shifted a little then said.

“I’m not sure. I don’t plan ahead.”

Before he got too far I told him.

“It's fine if you don’t want to go. I was just wondering. I’m going to go upstairs now. I’ll see you there.”

After I said that, I went up to my first class. I never thought that the end of my week could go so horribly wrong. But all my friends did me a favor and gave me my space like I had asked.

******

Word traveled fast around the school. I got sympathy looks from other students and teachers. One of my teachers patted my shoulder as he walked by me. I was at my locker, and he always walks down that way after school. I closed my eyes and just nodded a little. I was able to understand the message he was giving.

Every now and then I would find a note stuffed in my locker. On one of these days, I got a note from Anderson and Donovan. I read Anderson’s first, and it said.

_Hey Watson, sorry to hear about your loss. I know how that must feel. Again, sorry to hear about what happened._

I didn’t know Anderson was capable of trying to be thoughtful. I guess he wasn’t so bad after all. After I read his, I read Donovan’s and it said.

_Joan, really sorry to hear about what happened. I hope there’s something I could do to help. If you’d like to talk, we sure can._

I smiled a little, and started to take back all the doubts I had about those two. Maybe they weren’t as bad as the whole school thought they were.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is finally done, thanks for waiting.

The day of the service came around, and I got there with a few minutes to spare. I walked into the building, said hi to a few cousins, and walked around a little. I saw a picture of my grandpa, then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn’t really need to turn around to see who it was.

I placed my hand on his and said.

“I didn’t think you were coming.”

“I wasn’t planning on it, but mother said I should be supportive for you.”

I smiled a little, then turned to wrap my arms around him and said.

“Thanks Sherlock.”

After the service, there was the reception, and I was reluctant enough to have Sherlock there with me. It felt kind of good to have him there.

Later on that week, I still had my sad attitude. But I didn’t let it stop me from trying to get through my day.

******

It must have been weeks later when our finals started to come up. I wasn’t quite sure what had happened in between. I thought our fall break was kind of a joke because it was just four days. It was the week end and Monday and Tuesday. But that’s school for you. One day it’s one thing the next day it’s another. Four days, two days, what does it matter? A break is a break, and I’m taking it.

It neared the second to last week of the term. I was talking to Molly, she had adjusted well to the school. She told me about some of her classes, and we talked about the last one we had together. I think it was mostly gossip, and other junk. And I was kind of thinking that I am the most boring person on planet Earth. But for some odd reason others didn’t think that. Mostly saying friends didn’t think that.

Even though this was months away, I kind of started to think about Christmas. I remembered that I didn’t really do anything for Sherlock last year. Mainly because our relationship was fairly new. But this year I knew what I wanted to get him. Getting more lake water would be impossible since the water would be frozen over, and mom and dad said I can’t do that anymore. So I thought a little more formal than crummy lake water. Plus this would be easier to get, more or less.

But, skipping to a few months later, another finals week came around.

On the last day is when I gave Sherlock the gift. What I got him was a black watch, and I think he liked because he put it on right away, and I after the whole day had passed he still had it on.

******

After break, that’s when things really started to get a little rough. We were nearing the end of the school year again.

I already had plans for what I was going to do after my senior year. Even though that was a year or two later. But, one day after break, Sherlock and I were talking about our future plans.

“So, Sherlock. What were you planning on doing after high school? I mean I know it's about two years away. But I was just wondering.”

“Not sure. What about you?”

“I was thinking maybe I’d be an army doctor. I’d have to apply for medical school, and after I pick one I’d have to move and find a dorm or something close to campus and I just-”

My train of thought was cut off by him making that same move he did during homecoming. After we parted I said.

“I hope you can cut off all my nonsense like that.”

He gave a smirk, and I smiled a little.

After a few days, I found out that my choir class (yes I sing, forgot to mention it) has to go somewhere for a contest. And even though it wasn’t until April, I really didn’t want to go. The teacher said that we would miss our morning classes though, and I really didn’t feel like doing biology in the morning. So I guess there was an upside to it all, still though I kind of moped about it.

After finding that out, spring break rolled around, and I was looking forward to the week off school. My mom, little sister, and I were going up to Colorado to spend most of spring break. So with that to look forward to, it took forever to get through the rest of the term.

Finals came and went at their slow pace like usual, the week had ended, and I was at home packing my bag. I was home alone trying to get a ton of stuff done at one time. We were leaving on Saturday so we would have more time to spend in Colorado. So when I heard the door bell ring, I was kind of irritated since I still had a lot to do yet.

I rushed down the stairs to see who was at the door. The scowl I had on my face disappeared when I saw that it was Molly.

I stumbled over my words a little as I said. “Oh, hi Molly. I forgot you were coming over to hang out. Please come in.”

I moved to the side so she could, I think she knew what was going on when she saw a few packed bags next to the kitchen table when she asked.

“Going somewhere?”

“Yeah, my mom, sister, and I are going to Colorado for spring break. I was in the middle of packing when you came. But it’s fine though, I can finish later.”

We went upstairs to my room, where it was a mess. I had things almost all over the place. My suitcase sat in the middle of my bed with a few things thrown by it. I rubbed the back of my head with slight embarrassment.

“Sorry about the mess. I was kind of rushing to get done.”

“Oh that’s okay. I know how it fells to be rushed.”

Molly smiled, and I laughed a little. I moved my bag to the floor and cleared off some space. We talked for a little bit, then she had to leave. I told her that I would try to text her.

“Oh don’t worry about that Joan, you’ll be off doing your own thing. Have fun in Colorado.”

“Thanks.”

Once she left, I went back to packing for the week and getting a few other things done. Once those things were done, packing was finished, and the car was loaded, I half dragged myself to my room and flopped on my bed exhausted.

******

The next day, my mom told my brother what to do, who to call in case of an emergency, and what not to do. My sister and I were waiting in the car. Jess sat in the back and I got to ride up front. When mom was done talking with Jackson, she got in the car and we were off.

I nodded off a few times during the drive, and it took all day to get to Colorado. But as we were just getting there, the first thing that we saw were the mountains. It was breath taking, they were beautiful. When we reached our hotel, it was late that evening and we went straight to our room.

Our room was split in two, there was a room for me and my sister and one for my mom. I didn’t even bother with changing into something more comfortable, I was so tired I just collapsed on the bed and I was gone.

The next morning, Jessie was jumping on my bed saying. “Joan wake up, wake up, wake up. We’re going to have breakfast.” When she jumped off the bed, I started to roll over to look at her. I threw my pillow at her and smiled, she smiled back and threw it back.

Once we were ready to go, we left and started our day. The mountains were even more beautiful near mid day. There was so much to do in Colorado, I don’t think I can name everything we did but I can try.

The first thing we did after breakfast was go ice skating. My sister and I had a good time, and as we started leaving after about two or three hours it started snowing. We then went to some of the shops and looked around, after that we had dinner and Jessie wanted to go swimming as soon as we got back.

“Mom, can we go swimming?” She asked as we walked into our room.

“I think you should wait a little bit Jess. I mean we just got back, and we kind of just ate. You don’t want to get a cramp do you?” I was trying to put of swimming for just a little bit. Jess eventually gave in and waited a bit, probably twenty minutes if I kept track of time, she was done waiting and we went down to the pool.

Our first night there was pretty good, and we did a lot of things while we were there. My sister and I went snow tubing at least two or three days in a row, we went to the pool every night we were there, and by the end of week we went to Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs was the last stop in our trip, and it was just amazing there. The hotel was really cool, there were so many things there I seriously can‘t name them all. We were also upgraded to a cottage when we got there, how that happened I don’t know but I chose not to ask. We even got to be chauffeured, I was really impressed and I got to feel special for a little bit.

The next day though, we had to get up fairly early. It was five when we got up, I wasn’t happy about getting up that early but I couldn’t wait to get home to see my friends. Speaking of, the whole way home I talked to Emma. She said she missed me, and I thought that was kind of cute. We talked about a lot of things, I told her everything about Colorado and what we did, and she told me what she did while I was gone.

By the time we got home, it was just a little after four o’clock. I was so happy to be home. I lugged my things up to my room, and dropped them wherever. It was a little warm in my room, so I decided to open my window. I had gotten another text from Emma, but this time she was asking for me to come over. I thought about it then said I would, and after about a ten minute wait Emma and her dad were at my house to get me.

The whole evening was just us talking. I brought back her something from Colorado, and after spring break I fell back into my normal routine.

******

After spring break, my choir class was working hard to be prepared for our contest. The scoring system was backwards, if we wanted a good score we would have to aim to get a one instead of ten because again the scoring system is backwards, really backwards. In complete honesty I didn’t want to go but I had to because it was a huge part of my grade. I don’t really want to go into detail about what we did in the time between it and the day of contest, but long story short we won.

When we got back from contest, it was the middle of our third class. I went to my locker, grabbed my things and went to class. It was almost a wild goose chase because no one was in the class room. Almost unable to read the marker on the window, I figured out where everyone was. They were all upstairs in the computer lab. I sighed and shook my head a little, then made my way upstairs.

Not a whole lot of interesting things happened for the rest of April, so jumping into May the whole school was buzzing. People talked about the end of the school year, and I can’t say I wasn’t apart of that experience. It was also earlier that year I discovered my co-teacher in my geometry class was part of a faculty play, and he played a girl. I can’t remember the dates the play was on, but it started at seven. I made plans to try and go see it, and thankfully I wasn’t asked to do anything that day.

The night of the play was fairly interesting, I got to meet my aunt’s friends, then got to have a good laugh. The day after the play I made a greeting joke to my co-teacher and he smiled at me. Just like April, not much went on during May. During all classes it was just review, review, review and I thought I was going to lose it sooner or later. So, I decided to take a break from studying, well I sort of didn’t have a choice.

Here’s what happened. I was sitting on the floor of my room trying to finish a study guide for my world history class. It was probably five o’clock that evening and it was quiet, well it was until my phone starting ringing. When I looked down at the screen, I wasn’t at all surprised by the caller I.D.

“Yes Sherlock?”

“Joan I need your help with an experiment.”

“Shouldn’t you be studying for final exams? They’re at the end of the week you know.”

“Yes I know, some of my classes have taken their final exams.”

“Yeah but you have four classes, I have to study for five classes.”

“You’re the one who chose to take choir.”

“Sherlock Holmes you do come to my performances, I’m flattered. But flattering will get you nowhere.”

“Please Joan I need help.”

“Ask your brother to help you.”

“He’s too busy drowning himself for his exams.”

I gave an irritated sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Fine, I’ll be there soon.”

“There’s no need for you leave, just stay there.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.”

I opened my mouth to say something but the line had disconnected. I pulled my phone a way from my ear and frowned at the screen. Any questions running through my head were answered with the sound of the door bell ringing.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Getting up, I ran a hand through my hair and made my way downstairs to open the door.

“How long have you been out here?”

“Two minutes now, are you going to help me?”

“Yeah, what’s the experiment?”

“Certain chemical reactions.”

“No, we’re not doing that in my house.”

“Don’t worry, nothing that you’re thinking will happen.”

“Fine, come in.”

The rest of the evening with Sherlock’s experiments went pretty well. Surprisingly nothing bad happened, 

Finals came and went at their slow pace like usual, the week had ended, and I was at home packing my bag. I was home alone trying to get a ton of stuff done at one time. We were leaving on Saturday so we would have more time to spend in Colorado. So when I heard the door bell ring, I was kind of irritated since I still had a lot to do yet.

I rushed down the stairs to see who was at the door. The scowl I had on my face disappeared when I saw that it was Molly.

I stumbled over my words a little as I said. “Oh, hi Molly. I forgot you were coming over to hang out. Please come in.”

I moved to the side so she could, I think she knew what was going on when she saw a few packed bags next to the kitchen table when she asked.

“Going somewhere?”

“Yeah, my mom, sister, and I are going to Colorado for spring break. I was in the middle of packing when you came. But it’s fine though, I can finish later.”

We went upstairs to my room, where it was a mess. I had things almost all over the place. My suitcase sat in the middle of my bed with a few things thrown by it. I rubbed the back of my head with slight embarrassment.

“Sorry about the mess. I was kind of rushing to get done.”

“Oh that’s okay. I know how it fells to be rushed.”

Molly smiled, and I laughed a little. I moved my bag to the floor and cleared off some space. We talked for a little bit, then she had to leave. I told her that I would try to text her.

“Oh don’t worry about that Joan, you’ll be off doing your own thing. Have fun in Colorado.”

“Thanks.”

Once she left, I went back to packing for the week and getting a few other things done. Once those things were done, packing was finished, and the car was loaded, I half dragged myself to my room and flopped on my bed exhausted.

The next day, my mom told my brother what to do, who to call in case of an emergency, and what not to do. My sister and I were waiting in the car. Jess sat in the back and I got to ride up front. When mom was done talking with Jackson, she got in the car and we were off.

I nodded off a few times during the drive, and it took all day to get to Colorado. But as we were just getting there, the first thing that we saw were the mountains. It was breath taking, they were beautiful. When we reached our hotel, it was late that evening and we went straight to our room.

Our room was split in two, there was a room for me and my sister and one for my mom. I didn’t even bother with changing into something more comfortable, I was so tired I just collapsed on the bed and I was gone.

The next morning, Jessie was jumping on my bed saying. “Joan wake up, wake up, wake up. We’re going to have breakfast.” When she jumped off the bed, I started to roll over to look at her. I threw my pillow at her and smiled, she smiled back and threw it back.

Once we were ready to go, we left and started our day. The mountains were even more beautiful near mid day. There was so much to do in Colorado, I don’t think I can name everything we did but I can try.

The first thing we did after breakfast was go ice skating. My sister and I had a good time, and as we started leaving after about two or three hours it started snowing. We then went to some of the shops and looked around, after that we had dinner and Jessie wanted to go swimming as soon as we got back.

“Mom, can we go swimming?” She asked as we walked into our room.

“I think you should wait a little bit Jess. I mean we just got back, and we kind of just ate. You don’t want to get a cramp do you?” I was trying to put of swimming for just a little bit. Jess eventually gave in and waited a bit, probably twenty minutes if I kept track of time, she was done waiting and we went down to the pool.

Our first night there was pretty good, and we did a lot of things while we were there. My sister and I went snow tubing at least two or three days in a row, we went to the pool every night we were there, and by the end of week we went to Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs was the last stop in our trip, and it was just amazing there. The hotel was really cool, there were so many things there I seriously can‘t name them all. We were also upgraded to a cottage when we got there, how that happened I don’t know but I chose not to ask. We even got to be chauffeured, I was really impressed and I got to feel special for a little bit.

The next day though, we had to get up fairly early. It was five when we got up, I wasn’t happy about getting up that early but I couldn’t wait to get home to see my friends. Speaking of, the whole way home I talked to Emma. She said she missed me, and I thought that was kind of cute. We talked about a lot of things, I told her everything about Colorado and what we did, and she told me what she did while I was gone.

By the time we got home, it was just a little after four o’clock. I was so happy to be home. I lugged my things up to my room, and dropped them wherever. It was a little warm in my room, so I decided to open my window. I had gotten another text from Emma, but this time she was asking for me to come over. I thought about it then said I would, and after about a ten minute wait Emma and her dad were at my house to get me.

The whole evening was just us talking. I brought back her something from Colorado, and after spring break I fell back into my normal routine.

After spring break, my choir class was working hard to be prepared for our contest. The scoring system was backwards, if we wanted a good score we would have to aim to get a one instead of ten because again the scoring system is backwards, really backwards. In complete honesty I didn’t want to go but I had to because it was a huge part of my grade. I don’t really want to go into detail about what we did in the time between it and the day of contest, but long story short we won.

When we got back from contest, it was the middle of our third class. I went to my locker, grabbed my things and went to class. It was almost a wild goose chase because no one was in the class room. Almost unable to read the marker on the window, I figured out where everyone was. They were all upstairs in the computer lab. I sighed and shook my head a little, then made my way upstairs.

Not a whole lot of interesting things happened for the rest of April, so jumping into May the whole school was buzzing. People talked about the end of the school year, and I can’t say I wasn’t apart of that experience. It was also earlier that year I discovered my co-teacher in my geometry class was part of a faculty play, and he played a girl. I can’t remember the dates the play was on, but it started at seven. I made plans to try and go see it, and thankfully I wasn’t asked to do anything that day.

The night of the play was fairly interesting, I got to meet my aunt’s friends, then got to have a good laugh. The day after the play I made a greeting joke to my co-teacher and he smiled at me. Just like April, not much went on during May. During all classes it was just review, review, review and I thought I was going to lose it sooner or later. So, I decided to take a break from studying, well I sort of didn’t have a choice.

Here’s what happened. I was sitting on the floor of my room trying to finish a study guide for my world history class. It was probably five o’clock that evening and it was quiet, well it was until my phone starting ringing. When I looked down at the screen. I wasn’t at all surprised by the caller I.D.

“Yes Sherlock?”

“Joan I need your help with an experiment.”

“Shouldn’t you be studying for final exams? They’ at the end of the week you know.”

“Yes I know, some of my classes have taken their final exams.”

“Yeah but you have four classes, I have to study for five classes.”

“You’re the one who chose to take choir.”

“Sherlock Holmes you do come to my performances, I’m flattered. But flattering will get you nowhere.”

“Please Joan I need help.”

“Ask your brother to help you.”

“He’s too busy drowning himself for his exams.”

I gave an irritated sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Fine, I’ll be there soon.”

“There’s no need for you leave, just stay there.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.”

I opened my mouth to say something but the line had disconnected. I pulled my phone a way from my ear and frowned at the screen. Any questions running through my head were answered with the sound of the door bell ringing.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Getting up, I ran a hand through my hair and made my way downstairs to open the door.

“How long have you been out here?”

“Two minutes now, are you going to help me?”

“Yeah, what’s the experiment?”

“Certain chemical reactions.”

“No, we’re not doing that in my house.”

“Don’t worry, nothing that you’re thinking will happen.”

“Fine, come in.”

The rest of the evening with Sherlock’s experiments went pretty well. Surprisingly nothing bad happened, 

Finals came and went at their slow pace like usual, the week had ended, and I was at home packing my bag. I was home alone trying to get a ton of stuff done at one time. We were leaving on Saturday so we would have more time to spend in Colorado. So when I heard the door bell ring, I was kind of irritated since I still had a lot to do yet.

I rushed down the stairs to see who was at the door. The scowl I had on my face disappeared when I saw that it was Molly.

I stumbled over my words a little as I said. “Oh, hi Molly. I forgot you were coming over to hang out. Please come in.”

I moved to the side so she could, I think she knew what was going on when she saw a few packed bags next to the kitchen table when she asked.

“Going somewhere?”

“Yeah, my mom, sister, and I are going to Colorado for spring break. I was in the middle of packing when you came. But it’s fine though, I can finish later.”

We went upstairs to my room, where it was a mess. I had things almost all over the place. My suitcase sat in the middle of my bed with a few things thrown by it. I rubbed the back of my head with slight embarrassment.

“Sorry about the mess. I was kind of rushing to get done.”

“Oh that’s okay. I know how it fells to be rushed.”

Molly smiled, and I laughed a little. I moved my bag to the floor and cleared off some space. We talked for a little bit, then she had to leave. I told her that I would try to text her.

“Oh don’t worry about that Joan, you’ll be off doing your own thing. Have fun in Colorado.”

“Thanks.”

Once she left, I went back to packing for the week and getting a few other things done. Once those things were done, packing was finished, and the car was loaded, I half dragged myself to my room and flopped on my bed exhausted.

The next day, my mom told my brother what to do, who to call in case of an emergency, and what not to do. My sister and I were waiting in the car. Jess sat in the back and I got to ride up front. When mom was done talking with Jackson, she got in the car and we were off.

I nodded off a few times during the drive, and it took all day to get to Colorado. But as we were just getting there, the first thing that we saw were the mountains. It was breath taking, they were beautiful. When we reached our hotel, it was late that evening and we went straight to our room.

Our room was split in two, there was a room for me and my sister and one for my mom. I didn’t even bother with changing into something more comfortable, I was so tired I just collapsed on the bed and I was gone.

The next morning, Jessie was jumping on my bed saying. “Joan wake up, wake up, wake up. We’re going to have breakfast.” When she jumped off the bed, I started to roll over to look at her. I threw my pillow at her and smiled, she smiled back and threw it back.

Once we were ready to go, we left and started our day. The mountains were even more beautiful near mid day. There was so much to do in Colorado, I don’t think I can name everything we did but I can try.

The first thing we did after breakfast was go ice skating. My sister and I had a good time, and as we started leaving after about two or three hours it started snowing. We then went to some of the shops and looked around, after that we had dinner and Jessie wanted to go swimming as soon as we got back.

“Mom, can we go swimming?” She asked as we walked into our room.

“I think you should wait a little bit Jess. I mean we just got back, and we kind of just ate. You don’t want to get a cramp do you?” I was trying to put of swimming for just a little bit. Jess eventually gave in and waited a bit, probably twenty minutes if I kept track of time, she was done waiting and we went down to the pool.

Our first night there was pretty good, and we did a lot of things while we were there. My sister and I went snow tubing at least two or three days in a row, we went to the pool every night we were there, and by the end of week we went to Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs was the last stop in our trip, and it was just amazing there. The hotel was really cool, there were so many things there I seriously can‘t name them all. We were also upgraded to a cottage when we got there, how that happened I don’t know but I chose not to ask. We even got to be chauffeured, I was really impressed and I got to feel special for a little bit.

The next day though, we had to get up fairly early. It was five when we got up, I wasn’t happy about getting up that early but I couldn’t wait to get home to see my friends. Speaking of, the whole way home I talked to Emma. She said she missed me, and I thought that was kind of cute. We talked about a lot of things, I told her everything about Colorado and what we did, and she told me what she did while I was gone.

By the time we got home, it was just a little after four o’clock. I was so happy to be home. I lugged my things up to my room, and dropped them wherever. It was a little warm in my room, so I decided to open my window. I had gotten another text from Emma, but this time she was asking for me to come over. I thought about it then said I would, and after about a ten minute wait Emma and her dad were at my house to get me.

The whole evening was just us talking. I brought back her something from Colorado, and after spring break I fell back into my normal routine.

After spring break, my choir class was working hard to be prepared for our contest. The scoring system was backwards, if we wanted a good score we would have to aim to get a one instead of ten because again the scoring system is backwards, really backwards. In complete honesty I didn’t want to go but I had to because it was a huge part of my grade. I don’t really want to go into detail about what we did in the time between it and the day of contest, but long story short we won.

When we got back from contest, it was the middle of our third class. I went to my locker, grabbed my things and went to class. It was almost a wild goose chase because no one was in the class room. Almost unable to read the marker on the window, I figured out where everyone was. They were all upstairs in the computer lab. I sighed and shook my head a little, then made my way upstairs.

Not a whole lot of interesting things happened for the rest of April, so jumping into May the whole school was buzzing. People talked about the end of the school year, and I can’t say I wasn’t apart of that experience. It was also earlier that year I discovered my co-teacher in my geometry class was part of a faculty play, and he played a girl. I can’t remember the dates the play was on, but it started at seven. I made plans to try and go see it, and thankfully I wasn’t asked to do anything that day.

The night of the play was fairly interesting, I got to meet my aunt’s friends, then got to have a good laugh. The day after the play I made a greeting joke to my co-teacher and he smiled at me. Just like April, not much went on during May. During all classes it was just review, review, review and I thought I was going to lose it sooner or later. So, I decided to take a break from studying, well I sort of didn’t have a choice.

Here’s what happened. I was sitting on the floor of my room trying to finish a study guide for my world history class. It was probably five o’clock that evening and it was quiet, well it was until my phone starting ringing. When I looked down at the screen. I wasn’t at all surprised by the caller I.D.

“Yes Sherlock?”

“Joan I need your help with an experiment.”

“Shouldn’t you be studying for final exams? They’ at the end of the week you know.”

“Yes I know, some of my classes have taken their final exams.”

“Yeah but you have four classes, I have to study for five classes.”

“You’re the one who chose to take choir.”

“Sherlock Holmes you do come to my performances, I’m flattered. But flattering will get you nowhere.”

“Please Joan I need help.”

“Ask your brother to help you.”

“He’s too busy drowning himself for his exams.”

I gave an irritated sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Fine, I’ll be there soon.”

“There’s no need for you leave, just stay there.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.”

I opened my mouth to say something but the line had disconnected. I pulled my phone a way from my ear and frowned at the screen. Any questions running through my head were answered with the sound of the door bell ringing.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Getting up, I ran a hand through my hair and made my way downstairs to open the door.

“How long have you been out here?”

“Two minutes now, are you going to help me?”

“Yeah, what’s the experiment?”

“Certain chemical reactions.”

“No, we’re not doing that in my house.”

“Don’t worry, nothing that you’re thinking will happen.”

“Fine, come in.”

The rest of the evening with Sherlock’s experiments went pretty well. Surprisingly nothing bad happened, 

it was an easy clean up process afterwards, and before Sherlock left I told him one more thing. I was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with my arms crossed, and a smile playing in my face.

“Well, that sure was fun.”

“I told you nothing would happen.”

“Like always you were right, and before you go I want to give you something.” I stood up straight and made my way towards him. Being slightly taller than me, I had to pull him down and gave him a goodnight kiss. “See you tomorrow.” Then I turned and walked back into the house.

******

It's after final exams and I’ve spent some time to myself and prepping the house for company. The occasion, you may be wondering about, was my sixteenth birthday and I was having a few friends come over and spend the night. I was excited for them to come over, and with one friend she was really excited, probably more than the rest of us. Anyways, the week couldn't end sooner, it felt like everything was in slow motion. I tried everything I could do to make time go faster, whether it be cleaning up the house little by little, or taking my sister to her friend’s house to go get that said friend.

When Saturday did come around, the first guest to come was Kate. Her mom had to work about two hours before the party started, but I was fine with it and having her come over was actually a pretty good thing because my dad was going to come get me to get some things for my party, and having Kate come with would help out a lot.

Skipping forward about an hour, the rest of my friends came over. We had a good time hanging out, we played a few games, my mom ordered pizza, we took over the basement to play music to dance to, and then we just hung out for the rest of the evening. Going to bed was kind of out of the question, until so much later that night. I think it was at least one or two o’clock in the morning, all I remember was waking up with sunlight peaking through my blinds.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, then slowly after that the others started to wake up and do the same. Once everyone was up, we just sat around and hung out until everyone had to go home. I thanked everyone for coming over and said I would stay in touch with them.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I know this may sound a little weird but let me know if you want to know what city and state I live in. I just might consider telling. I'm sorry this took so long to finish, I was caught up in so many things it was hard to focus.


	9. Chapter 9

The first few days of June went by slowly, even though it was just three days in. It couldn’t have started in a more terrible way either, it was June third when it happened. I think it was somewhere after five that evening, we were having dinner and my mom let our dog out. Now we were also having things go on in our backyard so our fence wasn’t the greatest. I didn’t know our dog was outside until mom told me, when I got downstairs to make sure he stayed in our backyard, I didn’t see him anywhere. I got a little nervous so I went out and tried calling him, thinking maybe he was hiding somewhere.

“Dustin! Here boy!” I whistled a little to try and get his attention. He didn’t come and this really worried me. I went back inside to grab a pair of shoes and told mom that he wasn’t out there. Then I went to go look out front and tried calling him again. I didn’t see him until he dashed out from behind the house and ran across the street. I chased after him but I couldn’t keep up, for a medium size dog he sure was fast as hell.

The chase continued about three blocks or so until he turned a corner. When I reached it I stopped, I lost sight of him and didn’t know if he went left or right. I looked a few times, then chose to go right going as fast as I could.

“Dustin! Dustin, come back!” I stopped at a corner and tried to catch my breath. I turned a few times to see if I would see him come from behind someone’s house. I had no luck, mom pulled up to where I was and I got in the car without a second thought. We drove through the neighborhood a few times and tried calling him. When that didn’t work, I set off on foot and asked people, who were out, if they saw him. They said they either didn’t or were just coming outside. I gave them my thanks and continued to look, after about an hour I reached the house again. Jessie offered to help me look for him when I got inside, she also offered to get her friend to help. I told her that would be great, the more eyes looking the better, I also made a few calls since I didn’t know how far Dustin would go. I called a friend who lived about ten minutes a way from me and asked her if she’d keep an eye out for him. She said she would and I was grateful for that, I also did the same with my aunt because again I didn’t know how far Dustin was willing to go.

Jessie, her friend, and I walked around the neighborhood and a little farther and asked people if they’d seen Dustin. They would give the same answers I’ve been receiving earlier that day. We gave them our thanks and continued on. It was getting close to eight so I called it and the three of us went home. Mom said she had to go to work and do a few things, we left the garage open hoping Dustin would decide to come back for the night, I sat in the driveway in front of it and waited for him. Hopes and fears circled my head, I feared that Dustin was hurt and at the same time I hoped he was okay. I also completely forgot that I had my phone in my pocket, so when my text tone went off it surprised me a little. Emma had texted me, it was her response to something I had sent hours before. The picture that went with it made me smile a little.

_Thanks, I really needed a pick me up today._

_JW_

_Why, what’s wrong?_

_EW_

_Dog ran away._

_JW_

_Which one?_

_EW_

_Dustin._

_JW_

_Oh, would you like me to come over and help you look for him?_

_EW_

_No that’s okay, I had to call it quits for tonight. But Jessie and I are sitting in the driveway waiting for him. We’re hoping he’ll decide to come back home for the night._

_JW_

_Are you sure? I’m just six minutes away._

_EW_

_I know, and yeah I’m sure._

_JW_

_Okay, well keep me updated if he comes back._

_EW_

_Okay._

_JW_

After that I placed my phone on the ground and rubbed at my forehead a little. I didn’t know I could be so worried before, I also didn’t know that Jessie could be stronger than me when dealing with a situation like this. For a ten year old, she sure fit the role of an older sister pretty well and she did her best to try and make me feel better.

After some time, it got closer and closer to being late and the temperature slowly started to dip. Mom had gotten back and looked around the neighborhood one more time with my little sister. I stayed in the driveway and tried calling for him once more, the time passed and it got colder. I didn’t notice the difference until I started shaking a little. When mom and Jess came back they tried to get me to get a coat. After some coaxing I went to get one then quickly went back downstairs and out the door. I stayed out there until it was close to midnight, mom thought it a good idea to check the backyard every now and again. So that’s what I did until about three in the morning.

The next day it was two minutes before seven when I woke up to my text tone going off. I wasn’t upset about someone trying to get a hold of me, I didn’t feel like sleeping in anyways. When I looked at my phone I saw that Emma had texted me.

_Do you want me to come over and help look?_

_EW_

_If you want to._

_JW_

_Okay, I’ll be there in half an hour._

_EW_

_Okay._

_JW_

I put my phone back on my nightstand, then pushed myself up into a sitting position. I sat there for a moment, almost wanting to be in a nightmare and not being able to wake up from it. But after three or four minutes I got up and slowly went through my morning routine, and by the time I was dressed it was only seven fifteen. The gray sky didn’t make my mood any better, if anything it made it worse. I went downstairs to see if Dustin came back and was waiting by the door to be let inside, he wasn’t there and my hopes were crushed. I felt like I couldn’t go on anymore and everything I did was just too much effort even if it was something small. But after the half hour passed, I met Emma outside in the driveway. I must’ve looked upset and broken because she hugged me, I returned the gesture and restrained myself from balling my hands into fists and crying right there. When we parted we went inside and up to my room, I told her that I wanted to wait just a little bit before we headed out. She was okay with it, and I waited until it was eight, I let mom know that the two of us were heading out and that I had my phone with me.

After an hour, we were making our way through the neighborhood and back to the house. We were close to the cross section when my phone started ringing. No need to do the normal greeting since it was mom.

“Anything from anyone?”

“Someone knows where Dustin is.”

I stopped where I was, my phone almost fell to the ground, and my heart skipped a beat. I shook myself from my shock and asked.

“Where?”

She told me where he was and Emma and I ran to the cross section where mom met us. I couldn’t believe it, we were going to get our dog back that very day. He was in a different neighborhood but it wasn’t far and we knew where it was. We reached the address and I jumped out of the car before it stopped completely. Stupid move I know but I really wanted my dog back home. I think he heard the car door closing because he came out from behind the house and came running towards me. Tears were in my eyes as I crouched down to pet him. He spun in a small circle before lying down, I laughed a little knowing very well what he wanted. I rubbed his stomach a little before picking him and taking him in the car. As we made our way back home I buried my face in his fur, I told him how naughty he was but it was said in a joyful tone more or less. I held onto him for awhile after we got back to the house, I felt like if I let go of him he would disappear. Jessie heard that he was back and gave a tiny yay. Emma and I laughed a little, and not too long after that she came downstairs to make sure it was true. I asked Emma to inform a said friend that he was home and she said she would, I let my aunt know that he was home, and the rest of that day was spent hanging out for the two of us. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I felt lighter inside.

The rest of June was pretty uneventful, so I’m going to skip to July. I was taking care of a few things around the house. Mom had taken Jessie to Colorado and were going to be gone over the fourth of July. I talked to my cousin about possibly going out of town with him, I had to okay it with my dad first and he said it was fine. So with that taken care of, I went on about my normal life. Well, normal as can be when it comes to a family like mine.

A day before I left, I figured I would call Sherlock. It had been awhile since I’ve seen him and thought maybe he would like to come with us. So pulling out my phone I gave him a ring.

“Hello?”

“Sherlock, it’s Joan. Listen, I’m going out of town tomorrow for the fourth of July this year and-”

“You’re wondering if I would like to come with you.”

“Uh, yeah. Would you? I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I was just offering.”

“Why not, it’s been awhile since you and I have seen each other. A get together is long over due.”

“Okay great. My aunt is picking me up from my mom’s house, meet me here? We’ll be leaving at around two so I suggest you come over before then. Oh, and we’re spending the night out of town since my older cousin lives far out and it’s a three hour drive.”

“Alright, I’ll be sure to pack an over night bag and I’ll be there at one thirty tomorrow.”

“Okay, see you then. Bye.” When I hung up I felt a fluttering feeling inside, I bit my lower lip to keep form smiling even though no one was around to see me acting like such a little kid. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow and feeling the need to do something, I started packing my over night bag.

******

The next day, I was getting a few last minute things ready to go. I was down stairs feeding our cat and making sure Dustin had fresh water and food when I heard the door bell, I looked at the clock in the living room.

_One thirty, right on time._

I went to open the door and greeted the person waiting for me.

“Hello old friend.” I wrapped Sherlock in a hug, then continued talking. “I missed you. Miss me?”

He sighed, and possibly rolled his eyes before answering. “I suppose you can say that.”

I gave a small laugh, then pulling back gave a quick kiss.

“Come on, there’s a few things I still need to do before we leave. It won’t take too long.”

He gave a curt nod, then I set off to finish a few things around the house. Then thirty minutes later my aunt was there to pick us up and head out of town, she didn’t mind that Sherlock was tagging a long. The entire trip there was spent with the three of us trading multiple stories. Logan had an unusual desire to act like he knew everything about anything. Sherlock would throw me a side glance and questioning look, I just shrugged to say I had no idea where he got those things.

After the three hours, I told Amanda and Logan to go ahead inside and that Sherlock and I would be right behind them. When they were gone, I leaned against the car a little and had my hands tucked in my pockets. I was a little nervous about having this conversation, if anything I was kind of dreading it.

“Sherlock, while we’re here and other people start to show up. Could you not do that thing where you tell them everything you see about them? Please? They’re my cousin’s friends and family, and I want them to like you. If someone is bothering you, or I guess in your terms being boring just walk away. That’s all you have to do, walk away. And I’m not asking you to converse with anyone, just try to have a nice time. Please, for me?”

“Alright Joan, for you. Though I doubt people will bother me.”

“Well, they may ask why you sound the way you do. But other than that there are some pretty nice people. And if you need me, I’ll be around somewhere. You’ll just have to find me, now come on we’re probably making Amanda and Logan wonder why we’re taking so long.” I stood up straight and made my way into the house, almost right away my younger cousins came running at me to say hi and give hugs. I got down to their level to hug them back and said hello. I had to explain to them that Sherlock was a friend and that he was a pretty nice guy. After some time they warmed up to him and went about their normal business. I gave Sherlock a lop sided smile then joined the others outside. The entire evening went well, Sherlock didn’t say one word about someone’s personal life, and actually did fine around them. And when it got dark enough my cousin and her husband started the fireworks show. Everybody was scattered around in the backyard, some of them were sitting in lawn chairs on the grass or on a blanket, and some were on the deck. Sherlock and I happened to be one of those few who were on the deck, we were leaning against the rail and I was resting my head on his shoulder.

There were a lot of fireworks involved in that show, none of which I know the names to but I’m sure anyone would know what I was talking about. There were also all sorts of colors from pink to green, almost every color in the rainbow except for blue. Still though, it was a pretty good show and I decided that I would come back next year.

After the show had ended it had gotten pretty late, I went back inside and downstairs to change for the night, then went back up to find Sherlock. It didn’t take long and I got close enough for just him to hear me.

“I’m going to bed now, feel free to join me.” Then I turned and walked off. I’m not sure what happened in between, I was too tired to really pay attention. All I remember was trying to make myself comfortable on the floor, Logan slept on the couch, Amanda slept on the guest bed, and Sherlock was next to me.

******

The next morning I found that I had moved from my space on the floor and had drifted into Sherlock’s. I quickly got up and moved back, he turned to look at me and I started apologizing.

“Sorry, didn’t mean for getting that close.”

“It’s quite alright Joan, I don’t mind it.”

I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out, I’m also sure that my face turned a bright shade of red. To try and stop myself from looking more stupid I quickly closed my mouth and stood up.

“Well uh, no doubt the others are up. I’m going to get breakfast then get ready to go, we’ll be leaving around noon.”

He smirked at me and I felt him watching me as I went up the stairs and out of sight. Then at noon, like I told him, we were all packed up and went back to town. Back to boring old routines, chores, the like. For my understanding boyfriend though, I know nothing is ever boring for him and we made plans to go out on Wednesday at five.


End file.
